


Love on the Battlefield

by BlackPensils



Series: Marine!Ace AU [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Agonophilia, Boys Kissing, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Marine!Ace, Marine/Pirate AU, Older Man/Younger Man, Rough Kissing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2019-10-01 09:21:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17241659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackPensils/pseuds/BlackPensils
Summary: “You can have anyone in any port.”“I don’t want anyone else, yoi.”The grin Marco usually wore around him was lustful, but the smile Marco had on now was soft. It sent a warm feeling running throughout Ace’s body, originating from his stomach. Like the fire that constantly burned within him, but thousand times worse. More intense, more hot, more… more… More what? He didn’t know.





	1. No sex on the battlegrounds!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, ya nasties, here you go. A sequal to Thwarted by a Malign Star. This got way too long to be able to fit into one chapter, so there'll be at least two more chapters. Maybe four, if these two horny bastards are uncooperative, as usual.

Ace had long ago decided that Whitebeard pirates were a pain in the ass, and not because he seemed to have some sort of routine meet up with their first division Commander which usually ended with some sort of ache in that general area of the body. No, but because they had a nasty habit of leaving ¾ of the crew on the ship and letting just one division do most of the fighting as if they weren't taking any of it seriously. It didn't help that said division usually ended up being the third division. 

He’d much rather face the fifth or fourth division, or heck, let’s take the sixteenth for all that he cared. Just not the third division.

To be fair, Ace had never encountered any of those divisions, mainly because his usual encounter with the pirates was all centered around one man and one man alone. But Ace didn’t care. Any division but the third would be perfect, except for the first division.

He’d rather fight any division but the third and the first. Yes, that’s what he decided.

He had also decided that the third division sucked balls. Nasty old balls with bitter taste. Not that he had any references other than… 

Ace shook his head, now was really not the time to be thinking of that.

The third division was all made up of quick fighters who all had a seemingly nasty habit of dodging any attack thrown at them only to then immediately run for a full on tackle. And Ace was fucking done with having men twice his size body smash him with the intention of breaking half his ribs. It didn't help that half of them didn't seem to care about his flames either because of their own stupid devil fruits.

There had never been a time where he’d been happier about his devil fruit than now. He praised it to the lord and back because without it his ribs would be sticking all the wrong directions at this point. Which would be a bitch to fix.

The only positive thing about it as far as he could see was that Marco wasn't part of the battle. That would just be awkward and full of innuendos. It was enough that he couldn't escape the man outside of fights. He didn't need to add fighting buddies to their growing roster as well.

Or so he thought. 

He froze when he saw the fiery blue bird fly over the battlefield, scanning the ground with sharp eyes that saw way too much. The blue flames shone even in the daylight, always hypnotic to look at. The tail feathers followed like a golden trail behind him, like a sign to show he'd been there. The sight, of course, distracted him, especially when he was sure their eyes met, even if just briefly, despite the distance. 

It was like an icy chill went through his body, crawling up his spine like fingers ghosting across the refined muscles. The right pressure being applied to just the right spots as his sore back melted into drops of absolute nothing. He could still remember the odd yet pleasant feeling of cold flames moving over his body and easing every ache and discomfort contained within him. Like a magical mystery cure.

Well, fuck him. There went his chance of having one normal - or what was considered normal for marines and pirates - interaction with the Whitebeard pirates at least once. Because apparently he was Marco's favorite marine, as the man had put it during their numerous encounters.

Ace barely dodged a man coming straight towards him, having been too lost in the tactile memories. The man’s screaming ripped him back to reality and his eyes widened in realization as the man swung his large sword, which was nearly as long as Ace, at him. The blade cut through parts of his forearm as if it had been butter. Hot flames licking the split wound shut as if nothing had happened. He aimed a kick for the handle of the sword, sending the man's arms flying upwards with the sword still gripped firmly in the pirate's hands. Then he threw a contained column of fire at the man, sending the rest of him flying backwards. If he’d made it any bigger he would've accidentally burned some of his own crewmates and then he would've gotten another lecture from the shit head they called their superior and Admiral. Which sucked because the man always seemed to treat him like a five year old, a five year old he didn't particularly like either.

“Portgas! Stop daydreaming!” Bakasuki barked from across the field. He was fighting one of the commanders with a pretty cool ability to turn into diamonds. A huge guy with broad shoulders that towered at least half the size of Whitebeard, which in itself was still freakishly tall. His devil fruit was probably the only reason why the guy wasn't melted into a pile of shiny rocks at this point.

“I'm not daydreaming!” Ace yelled back, a vein pulsing on his forehead. It wasn't his fault that the stupid blue turkey and him had history that should not be spoken of. History that just kept growing despite Ace's best - or so he told himself - efforts to make sure that each time was the last.

An all too familiar chuckle echoed way too close, closer than Marco had been when they'd crossed eyes. “Isn't he a nice guy, making sure you don't die.”

“Fuck off!” Ace yelled as he threw a large column of fire at the man. He could feel the heat flush his face red and told himself that the only reason he was turning red was because of the fire. 

Marco didn't even move. He just remained in the same spot as the fire ravaged around him. As the red flames died down, he was left in the middle covered in his own blue ones. As always, they were absolutely stunning, near hypnotic to look at. 

“I heard you finally got transferred, yoi,” Marco said pretty nonchalantly. His voice just as monotone as Ace remembered it to be. He looked at Akainu with an amused smile. “He seems nice.”

Following Marco’s eyes towards the battle between the Whitebeard Commander and Akainu Ace noticed how the pirates had stopped attacking him. In fact, it almost seemed as if they were avoiding his general area. There was almost like an invisible ring had formed between him and the rest of the battlefield, keeping both marines and pirates out and leaving him alone in a bubble with Marco.

Good for his ribs, bad for his ass.

“You're joking, right?”

“You know I don't really do jokes, yoi.”

The grin on Marco's face was like a punch to the gut. A pleasant punch that tickled his nerves and sent flashbacks straight to the forefront of his mind, starting a faint pulsing in his groin. A very familiar sensation that came really fucking badly timed.

Now was really not the time to be getting aroused!

It had been a while since he and Marco last saw each other. Before his transfer he'd spent a good portion of the last few months at marineford under his grandpa's lovely  _ training _ . While Bakasuki hadn't had any missions that require travel, Garp had convinced Sengoku to let Ace be his demonstration partner for the new recruits. Which simply meant that Ace got his ass handed to him on a silver platter every other hour. He'd been ecstatic when he'd finally been allowed back onto a marine ship only to realize ten minutes in that it was going to be just as shitty as being at home.

Bakasuki, being the admiral that he’d supposedly earned the title of, had apparently seen some sort of potential in Ace's devil fruit and had decided that he needed to work on his haki. How those two correlated, Ace had yet to figure out. He quickly learned that he would much rather not train with Akainu at all after just one session. It usually meant having to deal with the man's lovely fists of lava and Ace very much liked his body intact.

He almost missed Garp’s harsh training sessions. But only almost. 

“Fuck you!” Ace shouted, using his flames to push himself off of the ground and towards Marco. He raised his fist and coated it in flames as he aimed straight for the man's jaw. A knock or two wouldn't damage the man too bad. He’d heal. 

Unfortunately for him, Marco was a much more seasoned fighter. He easily caught the fist, twisted them both around and slammed Ace into the ground. It knocked the air out of his lungs as his brain worked to figure out why that hurt. All while Ace was struggling with processing the last four seconds, Marco stood over him, still with that stupidly sexy grin on his face.

“Now? I don't think this is such a great time, unless you're into voyeurism, yoi,” Marco teased, looking around the battlefield. “In which case, kinky.”

“I'm not into- fuck, stop saying bullshit!” Ace croaked, pushing himself up onto one arm. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

He knew he should be more alert, more ready to fight if Marco attacked again. Unfortunately for him, his mind had become so used to Marco's presence that he unconsciously dropped his guard.

From Marco's posture however, Ace could easily tell that the he wasn't all that alert either. Instead his shoulders hung low and his hands were in his pockets as if they weren't on a battlefield with death all around them. It was the same posture he had whenever they would meet on an island. Relaxed.

Gramps would beat - sorry, train him silly if he knew Ace was dropping his guard in the midst of a battle, and to a pirate no less. Not that he would approve of their other activities together either.

“Really?” Marco asked, crouching down next to Ace. It bothered Ace how he hadn’t stopped grinning once so far. “You look like you’d be just about ready to go.”

Ace looked down to his crotch, seeing the beginning of a tent forming. His neck and cheeks burned hot and he wouldn’t have been surprised if he was actually on fire right now.

Without thinking properly, he jumped up and twisted his body around with his arms coated in hot flames.

“Enjoumou!”

The fire formed a circle around them, effectively cutting the two off from the rest of the battle. Normally Ace only used it when they were in a bad pinch and he needed to give his crewmates a chance to escape as well as to trap the enemy. He’d never used this technique any of the few times he’d fought Marco - mostly because he never got the chance to, but also because Marco could just fly out without a care in the world. Now, however, he used it to save what little part of his dignity he still had left.

Marco whistled, standing beside him and scanning the flames. His skin shone with a red tint. “Does your fire get hotter the more aroused you are?”

“What? No- They don’t-!” Ace stammered, grasping for his ability to speak properly. From the way Marco looked at him, he could easily guess that he wasn’t doing so good.

“You!” Ace growled, grabbing Marco by the collar of his open shirt. It was purple this time, Ace noticed. Purple fit him.

He pushed Marco backwards, faintly registering that the pirate was probably letting him by taking steps back in time with Ace’s own. There was no way he was strong enough to make Marco budge without using alternative methods. 

Why did all of their encounters have to be sexually charged? Couldn’t they, just for once, have a meeting that didn’t end up with them having sex or sucking face. Like normal pirates and marines do. Fight, they’d fight or just plainly insult each other.

With Marco none of that happened. Every time Ace saw him he was reminded of that night back on the island, the hot touches, the whispers and their bodies moving. He also remembered being drunk, but somehow that never seemed to come up as an excuse for why they’d started any of this in the first place. Maybe because the encounters after he hadn’t been drunk enough for the excuse to work? Maybe because he remembered those more clearly than he should with the amount of alcohol he usually consumed when Marco was around. He wasn’t sure if it was to forget what he wanted when the morning came or if it was to tell himself he wasn’t to blame for wanting what he wanted.

His face came close to Marco’s, so close that he could feel the other man’s breath on his nose. He kept pushing him backwards but didn’t notice when Marco stopped moving. The sudden onslaught of the added weight against him and the fumbling of Ace’s feet sent Marco falling backwards. Ace, who was still gripping the man’s shirt, went falling on top of him.

“Yoi,” Marco muttered, shifting his weight around. He reached underneath him with an arm and pushed away a bunch of small rocks that he must have landed on top of.

“Stop moving!”

“Huh?”

Marco turned back towards him. The blush on Ace’s face grew as he dug his nails into Marco’s abdominal muscles when the pirate stared directly at the bulge in his pants.

Ace inhaled sharply when one of Marco’s hands gripped one of his hips. If it had been anyone else, he would have probably been able to get out without any sort of trouble. But with it being Marco’s, Ace knew it would be a struggle and frankly, part of him, a very prominent part of him, didn’t want the man to take his hand away.

He shivered, shoulders shaking as Marco ran a single finger over the bulge. There was no pressure and no motion except for the small line he drew, but the way it affected Ace was way too much. It was insane how he couldn’t quit the pirate underneath him or how despite being the one on top Marco still seemed to dominate the scene.

He bit the side of his lip, chewing on the flesh as he took in deep breaths. Marco’s voice echoed in his head,  _ breath in deeply through your nose and out through your mouth _ .

“I’ve missed you, yoi.”

“Me too,” Ace said without a thought. There was no reason to lie, Marco could see right through him with those piercing phoenix eyes of his.

“Then maybe I should have taken a trip to Marineford, yoi. It’s been way too long.” 

“You would’ve been caught.”

“I know how to sneak around, yoi.” 

“You can have anyone in any port.”

“I don’t want anyone else, yoi.”

Ace looked up from Marco’s abs and straight at his face. The grin was gone, replaced by a smile that was… Something that Ace couldn’t place. He didn’t know the emotion behind it. He’d seen it on other’s directed towards loved ones, but it had never been directed towards him. He had never learned what that smile meant, what the emotion behind it was.

The grin Marco usually wore around him was lustful, but the smile Marco had on now was soft. It sent a warm feeling running throughout Ace’s body, originating from his stomach. Like the fire that constantly burned within him, but thousand times worse. More intense, more hot, more… more… More what? He didn’t know.

In one swift movement, Marco had sat up. It pushed Ace down onto his thighs. The hand on his hip moved to the small of his back, pushing their chests tight together and Ace couldn’t help but think that this was what he’d been missing these last few months. This was where he wanted to be. Not in his small house at Marineford. Not in his cabin on the ship. He wanted to be with Marco.

His fingertips tingled, like small needles were being pushed into the tips. They itched to hold onto Marco and to hold onto him tight. To never let him go again, as if it would mean the man would disappear forever.

He didn’t know what to do with it; with any of it. He didn’t know what the burn in his stomach meant, the heat that spread throughout his chest at the thought of Marco or the way his fingers itched to touch the man like he was everything that Ace ever needed. He just didn’t know.

Marco ran a hand through Ace’s hair, fingers brushing against his scalp before moving down to caress his cheek. He leaned into the touch, almost unaware of the way his body relaxed and how he sighed.

“It’s been far too fucking long,” Marco said, breath tickling Ace’s lips and nose.

Even stradling the man Marco was a good portion taller than him. At first it had bothered Ace that Marco had both height and strength against him, now he couldn’t help but find it attractive how the man could wrap him up in his arms and still have chest to spare. Broad shoulders, abs that must have been sculpted by some unseen force because those could not be natural and arms that were just so long with biceps that made Ace’s look untrained. Usually they were hidden behind a pair of long sleeves but Ace knew they were there, knew how strong they were and had seen how they would move and flex as Marco would grip his hips. And those full lips and the way Marco would stick his tongue out when concentrating or thinking or when he looked at Ace.

Ace gripped Marco’s cheeks with both hands and smashed their lips together in a way that could be compared to how a man dying of thirst drank water. It was needy, lustful and longing and there was no time to wait for Marco to open his lips and let Ace in, because Ace had already managed to enter his mouth.

Marco responded in kind, kissing back with just as much ferocity and need. He held Ace against him in a tight grip that left little room to move while his other hand found its place against his ass.

“This really isn’t the place,” Marco breathed against his lips when they broke for air.

“I know. But fuck, Marco.”

Ace gripped the back of the purple shirt, as if holding on for dear life. Because if he let go Marco would have to leave.

“Why did you have to be a pirate?” Ace whispered, forehead resting against Marco's. “Why couldn't you have been something else, something legal?”

“Why won't you come with me, yoi?” Marco asked in return.

Ace stopped, the words sinking in. Go with Marco? 

He was right. This wasn’t the place. The ring of flames might be obscuring them from the rest of the battle, but that didn’t mean the battle wasn’t still going on around them. If any of the other pirates or marines were foolish enough to enter the flames because of some chivalrous reason to rescue their comrade one or both of them would be fucked - and not in the pleasant way.

If a marine saw them, Ace on top of Marco, there would be no way that Ace could explain this away. Bakasuki would learn of this. Akainu would know about him and Marco. Marco would get caught… and he would get killed.

A cold chill spread throughout his body, freezing his nerves at the thought of Marco lying lifeless on some gallow, dead.

“We need to stop,” Ace whispered under his breath. They needed to stop now before someone saw them, before he put Marco in any more danger.

Marco frowned, opening his mouth to say something when suddenly a low rumbling could be felt through the earth beneath them. He immediately closed his mouth, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth and face scrunched up as if he was concentrating really hard. Then Ace could feel it again, as if someone had tripped a giant and the bastard had landed on its ass.

“No…” Marco started saying when the entire ground shifted under them. Rocks and stones wobbled and the ground split and pushed up against itself as if being rearranged. The shacking became so violent that the ground beneath them sprouted up, sending Ace flying off of Marco and onto the ground. He gripped onto the other man’s bicep as he tried to steady himself in the rumbling.

With a hiss the flames around them died down, revealing the scene that had transpired behind it while Ace and Marco had been lost in each other.

“Shit, really?!” Marco exclaimed, turning around. Ace followed suit, not expecting what he saw. 

Whitebeard had jumped down from the Moby Dick and onto the battlefield. The ground around him was raised, especially around his feet as if they had taken a harsh blow. Large white cracks, like a broken mirror, had spread through the air around his fist which was stretched out from his body as if he’d just punched the air.

It was the first time Ace saw Whitebeard's abilities first hand.

Around them marines and pirates who hadn't made it onto their ships fell over. Shouts and loud curses was heard around the battle as full grown men fell on their asses as the ground moved below them. Unfortunately, to Ace's disappointment, Akainu still stood on stable feet despite the raised and rearranged ground. He'd hoped the man would fall on his ass too.

“Come on, Pops!” Marco cursed, grumbling under his breath about stupid fathers not listening to his doctors, as he hurried to get up on way too stable feet for the way the ground was moving. 

“Sorry, Ace, we'll have to cut this short, yoi,” Marco said, turning towards him. Then he froze for a few seconds, tongue sticking out of his mouth. Ace recognized it as his thinking face. Then he nodded and held out a hand. “Come with me.”

“What?”

“To the Moby Dick, no one's going to question it if I bring you back, yoi.”

Ace didn’t believe that it was that easy. Of course there would be questions if Marco brought back a marine to a pirate ship. Plus, he didn’t think Whitebeard would appreciate having the son of his enemy on his ship.

“No.”

Marco sighed. “Next time maybe.”

Ace still accepted the hand and let Marco hoist him off of the ground with an easy pull of his arm. Marco then leaned in, planting a quick but passionate kiss on Ace's lips. He was glad most of the ground was obscuring them from the rest of the people, because that would be hard to explain. Luckily few were paying attention to them and were more focused on the Emperor rearranging the very ground beneath their feet.

“No way in hell,” Ace said with a grin. He leaned closer despite knowing he shouldn't. “And there won't be a next time… yoi.”

Marco grinned, face turning almost dangerous with eyes shining with lust. Ace yelped in surprise when Marco squeezed his ass. 

“You always say that and yet every time it's a lie,” Marco said.

 

* * *

 

 

At the moment, Marco wasn't sure who he was more annoyed with - the marine admiral or Pops. One was for the obvious reason that Akainu was a known asshole towards pirates. Everyone knew the sort of twisted sense of justice he had and knew to stay the fuck away from him. Marco had never needed to bother because despite the man's devil fruit, which was the source of a lot of fear, it wouldn't have any effect on him. This was also one of the rare occasions that they'd run into an admiral’s vessel. Usually they stayed on Marineford. 

The other was for more obscure reasons that the rest of the world wasn't privy to but that the crew was very much aware of. Namely Pops’ declining health. Marco and the rest of the medical staff on board the Moby Dick were sure to keep the cancer a secret. The world knew Pops was sick, but they didn't need to know to what extent. That didn't mean Marco wasn't going to panic everytime Whitebeard decided to do something he'd been strictly told not to do. Like drink copious amounts of alcohol or decide to fight a marine admiral when Jozu clearly got it covered. 

In the last few weeks the old man had only gotten worse, despite their best attempts at getting him better. They'd visited doctor after doctor to see if they could get some form of insight and maybe get some new development. However nothing had panned out and Marco had been almost sure they'd had to travel back to Paradise to find that witch Roger had talked about before his execution almost twenty-two years ago or Crocus, who was rumored to be at the Twin Capes.

Luckily, one of the treatments on the last island had been showing progress and they'd all rejoiced over the success. Of course that's when Akainu decided to show his ugly face in front of them. Just as if he was mocking Pops’ recovery.

He was thankful that Jozu had immediately said that he and the third division would deal with this fight and that the rest of them didn't need to bother. It was a good enough reason to keep Pops from joining the fray. But apparently that hadn't lasted for long. Something must have triggered him, to get him to decide that the fight needed to end to such an extent that he needed to step in to stop it himself.

Marco massaged the bridge of his nose as he and the rest of the commanders kept an eye on Akainu, who'd been coughing blood for a while now but still seemed to be hell bent on continuing the fight. 

He’d taken a beating alright and despite his devil fruit Marco could see the hint of purple bruising beginning to form on his exposed skin. But despite having faced both Jozu and Pops head on he was still somehow miraculously alive. One of his lieutenants - a man Marco noticed wasn't Ace - had somehow managed to calm the admiral down enough to let them make a swift leave without making it look like the Marines were losing. But to be fair, Marco couldn't care less what it looked like for them because of the way Pops’ breathing had increased and the way his skin had flushed. It really wasn't good. Getting him as far away from the battle was the biggest priority right now.

That didn't stop him from keeping a side eye on Ace who was helping his fellow Marines patch themselves up. Marco caught him side glancing his way on occasion and grinned everytime he did.

“See anything you like?” Thatch asked from beside him, eyebrows wiggling.

“I'd  _ like _ for us to leave here as soon as possible, yoi,” Marco answered instead. The last of their brothers were being helped on board and the sails were being set to leave. Blenheim had a hold of the anchor and was just waiting for the signal to pull it up.

He was a bit sad about having to leave Ace already without the chance to properly catch up, but family took priority. Though, he easily considered Ace to be an extended part of that family, which made it tighten in his chest as he had to leave him with the Marines.

“Who let Pops leave the ship?” Marco asked, looking back towards Akainu who seemed to be more than mad about their departure. The Den Den Snail he was talking to didn't seem to make his mood any better. He wondered if it was Sengoku and if he was given stern orders not to pursue them.

“It wasn't like any of us could stop him, you were out there doing God knows what! What were we supposed to do, slap his ankles?” Thatch asked with a shrug in an attempt at humor. “What were you doing out there, by the way?”

“Routine checkups,” was Marco's only answer. One of the ships two biggest gossips didn't need to know what was going on between Ace and Marco.

“Uhuh?”

“I saw a threat that needed to be taken care of quickly, yoi.” Marco shrugged. That wasn't a lie, considering Ace had been kicking and burning a lot of ass out there on the battlefield. 

“Maybe that's what set him off?” Thatch said. “You fighting that fire marine and then with those flames obscuring the view. Maybe he decided that it was enough if you had to interfere.”

“Hm… maybe,” Marco said. 

As the last of their crew were on board the ship he finally gave the signal to pull up the anchor. The Moby Dick slowly sailed away from the shore and Marco found himself yet again scanning the shoreline for Ace. Their eyes met and he was sure that Ace smiled at him before shaking his head and turning away.

He chuckled. The brat was warming up to him, and that wasn’t intended as a pun. 

God, he really didn’t like to leave Ace with the marines. He was going to have Ace by his side, Marco decided. Not today, and maybe not tomorrow. But one day.


	2. Never ask a pirate for relationship advice

“Hey, Portgas!” a marine Ace hadn't yet had the time to properly get to know shouted. He knew the man was no high rank and just your average marine.

It was always difficult to switch from one vessel to another. It usually meant a drastic shift in routine which could be difficult to get used to on a short notice. 

“Yeah?” he answered, or attempted to. His mouth was half stuffed with food. 

There was not even close to enough food onboard for him not to go hungry, which was why he had learned to savor every bite. Not long after they set sail Bakasuki had decided that Ace needed to learn how to regular his intake of food because of starvation possibilities or whatever it had been that the admiral had used as an excuse. That didn't stop him from eating his fill at the restaurants whenever they docked at an island. Though that could be far apart, so all Ace wanted to do right now was to stuff his face before having to return to the ship.

“So, what was it like? Hm?”

Ace furrowed his brow and blinked. With a loud gulp he swallowed the food and scratched the back of his neck in confusion. “What was what like?”

“You know,” the marine said taking a seat next to him and nudging his arm with his elbow. “Marco the Phoenix. I saw you and him at the battle.”

The dread that washed over Ace was so sudden that he was sure his heart stopped beating there for a second or two. A cold chill ran down his spine and he almost dropped his fork. The thought that this marine had seen him and Marco brought back the image of Marco at the gallows. His stomach churned, twisting and boiled and he felt nauseous. But no one should have been able to see them. They should've been covered by the fire, shouldn't they? What if the flames hadn't been enough? What if this marine had somehow seen something. What if he figured out that they hadn’t really been fighting? What if he saw the kiss?

“I don't know what you mean,” Ace said, clearing his throat. He pursed his lips and scratched his neck, as an awkward blush stretched on his neck.

“Dude! You fought Marco the fucking Phoenix! Not just a Commander but Whitebeard's right hand man!” the man exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. “And you're just going to tell it off as if it's nothing?”

“Oh… you mean that…” Ace breathed out in relief. For a moment there he thought he was royally screwed.

“Yeah, of course! What did you think I meant?” the marine asked with raised eyebrows.

Before Ace got a chance to answer, a young female in Ace's age range piped up from down the table.

“He was probably worried that you figured out Marco's hot!” she shouted with a wide grin. A few of the patrons close to them laughed at her claim.

“Oh my God, Fuyumi!” Ace exclaimed, eyes wide. “What the hell?”

“Oh come on, Ace,” she said, pushing her way to his side of the table. She squeezed in between Ace and the marine. “We all know that anyone would go gay for those abs.”

She singsonged the last part with that big childish smile that made her look younger than she really was. Ace didn't know her exact age, but knew that she was at least two years his senior.

“I'm not- His abs aren't--that isn't-” Ace stammered. He wasn't sure which part he was trying to defend himself against, the fact that he was being accused of being attracted to a pirate (no need to mention that they weren't wrong) or the fact that Marco was apparently hot enough for Fuyumi, someone Ace knew preferred women, to swoon over his abs.

“I thought you liked tits,” the man laughed.

“Doesn't mean I can't appreciate a nice pair of abs,” she said, pushing her nose up in the air in defence. “Besides, we all know you're gay, Ace. A secret crush on the pretty birdy isn't wrong, or uncommon.” She leaned extra close, almost as if to whisper a secret. “I heard that Vice-admiral Garp had a crush on Roger when he was alive.”

Ace leaned away in disgust, holding his arms up in a sort of defence against the absurd claim. Just the thought of Roger, his gene donor, and Garp, his grandpa and the man who had (sort of) raised him, together was probably the most disturbing image he had ever conjured up in his mind. he shook his head and had to stop himself from almost gagging at the thought.

“Fuck, that's disgusting! Keep those thoughts to yourself,” the marine said, shuddering. Probably finding the thought just as disturbing.

“What? I’m pretty sure that Admiral Akainu has a hate crush on Whitebeard from today's fight. I've never seen him that frustrated since I was assigned to his crew,” Fuyumi said, looking like a devious teenager. Then she swatted Ace on the shoulder and smirked at him almost creepily. “I think you and Marco would make an adorable couple.”

“If he wasn't a pirate, maybe…” Ace muttered, poking at his food with his fork. He had lost his appetite. He sighed and pushed the plate away. “I’m going back to the ship.”

He stood up and hurried to leave before Fuyumi or the marine could stop him. He didn’t get far enough away before he could hear someone shout that he hadn’t paid and with the old habit of dine and dash still being close to second nature, he took of running towards the port.

 

* * *

 

 

“So, who's the kid?” Thatch asked, glancing up from the newspaper he was reading.

“What kid?”

“Don't play dumb with me, Marco, the fire brat from yesterday's battle,” Thatch said and put the paper down onto the table with the front page article facing up. He tapped one of the pictures of Pops and Jozu facing Akainu that had been scaled up to nearly take up half of the page.

He wondered which idiot had been stupid enough to pull out a snail in the middle of the fight in order to take the photo. 

At the far bottom of the page there was your average marine stock picture of Ace grinning at the photographer. There was a small section talking about their short battle - if it could even be called that - which didn't last more than two paragraphs. Understandable, since most of it had taken place behind walls of fire.

“A lieutenant with way too much fire power for his own good,” Marco responded with a shrug though he couldn't keep the smile down when he thought about the young man. 

“Oh really?” Thatch asked, eyes narrowing with that glint in his eyes that usually gave Marco a headache. Which, to the man's credit, was quite the achievement with Marco's devil fruit. “You left the ship to talk to him, in the middle of a fight - a fight you weren't taking part of.”

He almost hurried to add the last part on, as if it would prove something. 

It was true, though. Marco hadn't planned to be part of the action. There was no reason for him to interfere when the third division had already claimed the battle as theirs. They were the frontliners after all and were structured with crewmembers with shield-like abilities similar to Jozu’s. A logical choice for a fight against Akainu. There had been no reason for Marco to jump in as he had other than to see Ace.

“We were fighting an admiral, Thatch. There's a reason Pops put an end to the fight so early.” 

“That has nothing to do with this lieutenant kid.”

Marco sighed, fully aware that his brother wouldn’t let this go that easily. So accepting the fact that he was once again going to be facing an interrogation in regards to his love life, he rested his head in one hand. “Alright, what misconception have you got for me this time, yoi?”

“You've met before.”

“Yes.”

“You've had a conversation.”

“Obviously-”

“I wasn't finished!” Thatch interrupted. “You've had a normal friendly conversation. Don't raise your eyebrow at me, I'm collecting info here.”

He loved his brother, but it was a testimony to his patience that he could put up with Thatch’s antics without popping a blood vessel. 

For almost as long as they’d known each other Thatch, and pretty much the entire crew, had for some unfathomable reason been overly interested in Marco’s love life. It was as if the mere thought of him having a normal relationship was so inconceivable to the crew that it was everybody's business for weeks to come whenever it happened. Of course, it was hard to keep secrets in such a large crew, but some privacy wasn’t too much to ask for.

“Thatch, do you have any real questions or is this just your new form of amusement?” Marco asked, grabbing the newspaper to scan the article. He hadn’t yet had an opportunity to read it and was actually fairly curious in what propaganda the marines had for them this time.

“Fine, fine!” Thatch said, holding his hands up in a sort of mock surrender. “He didn't attack you right away.”

“Maybe he was evaluating the situation,” Marco countered.

“Yeah, and then you had a conversation.”

“It's called banter.”

“As if you weren't in the middle of a fight,” Thatch shot at him. “From where I stood, the fight might as well not have happened.” 

“I'm not that much of a monster as to kill an eighteen year old brat, yoi,” he said, flipping the page to continue the article that seemed to span way too many pages for a fight that barely lasted twenty minutes.

“And you know how old he is!” Thatch near shouted, turning a few heads in their direction.

“He's in the papers every other day, he's Garp’s grandkid!” Marco exclaimed, folding the newspaper and turning it towards Thatch to show him the small info box about Ace they’d managed to squeeze in there. At the top of the list detailing some of his achievements was a small note that clearly stated both his age and his relation to the marine hero.

Speaking of age, he was sure that Ace's birthday was coming up next month. He remembered the kid saying something about January once before he'd changed the subject in a very forced way. Marco had let it happen as he'd been too set on fucking the marine instead of having a conversation at the time. Maybe he should do something special for the occasion, he mused. 

“Garp?! You mean Garp the Fist?” Thatch snatched the paper from him and pulled it almost comically close to scan the text, as if he was an old man who was trying to read without his reading glasses. Marco decided to not take the joke personally. “Poor guy.”

Marco shrugged. “Kid knows how to take a punch and how to punch back.”

“Is that a euphemisms? Are you two in a relationship?” Thatch grinned, putting the paper down.

“No, we're not.”

It wasn't a lie, sort of. He and Ace had never put a label on what they were. Not to mention that he guessed Ace would say they weren't anything at all if asked.

“You didn't answer the first question.”

“No, it's not a euphemisms for sex,” Marco sighed.

“I never said it was about sex,” Thatch said with a shrug that was way too made up to be genuine. Especially with that shit eating grin on his face. 

“You sure as hell implied it.”

“Are you fucking him? Finally getting some sweet, sweet action, ‘ey, Marco?”

A cough could be heard from beside them as Haruta nearly choked on his water. Marco clapped him on the back a few times as the young commander collected himself.

“Don't you think you're making a lot of assumptions right now, Thatch?” Haruta asked once he’d finally gotten his breathing back in order, raising both eyebrows in the same fashion one would normally do with one.

“What? You think Marco's catching?” Thatch asked, blinking with wide eyes. Wide surprised eyes that were so fake that Marco ran a hand down his face.

“No, he's right,” Marco said, admitting defeat.

“You are catching?!” Haruta exclaimed, eyes widening and the shock written clear on his face. A few others around them also turned, now seemingly way too invested in the conversation that had taken a way too personal turn.

“That's not-”

“Well well, dear brother of mine. I would've never thought!” Thatch said, jumping over the table to sit next to Marco. He slung an arm over his shoulder and grinned at him.

“Can it, Pomp. Maybe you should try it sometime, might loosen you up.”

“As much as I appreciate the offer, and you are very good looking, but I'd much rather give dick than take it,” Thatch said. “And I wouldn’t want to ruin your newfound love with this new hot lieutenant you’ve found.”

“Haruta, I think we've found the problem, yoi,” Marco said, grinning. He shared a glance with the young commander who nodded, though with a slightly confused expression.

“Indeed.”

Thatch looked between the two. “Huh?”

“Thatch, my old friend-” Marco said in the voice the crew called his ‘parent voice’, patting the man’s chest.

“Says the extinct bird.”

“Shut up! Now, to solve this issue we've stumbled upon - and I believe I know the problem - I suggest that you suck one dick,” Marco said, grinning at the way Thatch’s face twisted at the turn the conversation had taken. He had to fight not to chuckle at finally having turned the conversation around and onto Thatch instead of himself. “Just one dick, I promise you it's not that bad. Like sucking a popsicle. You don't have to fuck the guy.”

“I'm not gonna suck a dick-?”

“Ey, like those dick shaped ones?!” Blenheim piped up from down the table, chuckling at the old memory.

Marco had to think for a second before recalling a new year's party on some weird ass island where they had sold dick shaped popsicles. Apparently they were supposed to look like the islands native flower but everyone knew what they really looked like. The crew had had a field day with popsicles, betting people to suck on them.

“Yeah, you sucked one of those,” Marco said.

“That was fucking twenty years ago!”

“You've been in the closet for twenty years? I'm sorry for not noticing earlier, yoi,” Marco mock apologized. 

“How did this become about me?! I'm not the one getting laid with the hot new marine lieutenant,” Thatch argued, jabbing a finger at Marco's chest.

“Are you going to drop this?” he sighed. Nursing his short lived victory.

“Maybe~” Thatch said smugly. “If you tell me what happened.”

“Fine!” Marco exclaimed, almost throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. “Yes, we did have sex a few months back- alright, a couple times.”

The look on Thatch's face was enough for Marco to know that he had a good couple of months of teasing ahead of him after this. 

“But when I first met him, Ace was sailing under Stainless, not Akainu, yoi. He said he was getting transferred but damn,” Marco said. He could understand why Ace hadn't been out to sea for months now. The admiral's were often at Marineford back in paradise, meaning Ace would have been forced to stay there as well, putting the entire red line between them.

“I knew it!” Thatch exclaimed, slamming a hand down onto the table in his excitement. A few men down the table jumped at the sudden noise. 

“Knew what?” Rakuyo asked, coming over to their table. He put a plate of food down before sitting across from Marco and Thatch.

“Marco's getting laid,” Thatch said with a smug smirk, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Really?” Rakuyo asked, eyebrows shooting up towards his hairline. It was lucky he hadn't started eating yet or he would have probably sprayed food all over them. “Who's the lucky lad?”

“The marine brat from the fight yesterday,” Thatch said, tapping the picture of Ace. 

“So that's why you left the ship! I wanna meet this kid. Must be something special,” he laughed, grabbing the paper.

“Right!” Thatch grinned, placing both hands on the table. 

“He's cute, and young. Didn't know you liked the cute boys, Marco.”

Marco groaned. So much for his private love life. Though, he had been able to keep it secret for nearly ten months now, which was longer than he expected. It had only been a matter of time before he had been found out, even if he had hoped he would manage to convince Ace to come with him first before that happened.

While he wasn't against telling his family about him and Ace, he didn't feel particularly excited about the teasing that would follow. As Rakuyo had said, Ace was young. Younger than Marco's usual age range or his previous relationships. If they hadn't been pirates it would have probably been frowned upon.

“You should bring him onboard, son,” Pops said, somehow having snuck up on the conversation. He had somehow managed to sit down cross-legged on the floor by the table at some point and Marco wasn't sure how much of the conversation he had heard. 

“A marine on a ship of pirates? Oh yes, Ace will love that!” Marco joked, rolling his eyes. “It's not like I haven't tried, yoi.”

“And?”

“And what? He keeps saying no.”

Marco sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. God knew he had tried to get Ace to come with him plenty of times. But damn if that kid wasn't stubborn. He would probably have to get Ace drunk to get him to agree to come onboard and Marco didn't want that. He wanted Ace to come with him by his own choice, not because of alcohol or any other reason.

Ace was a difficult person. Marco had realized that after the first two times they'd spent together. The first time Ace had been drunk so Marco took what he'd said with a grain of salt, but most men became surprisingly honest when drunk and he'd seen some clear signs despite the alcohol.

The second time Ace hadn't been drunk when they'd ran into each other. In fact, he'd been with two other marines who hadn't spotted Marco in the crowd. Ace had and had tried to avoid him until Marco had cornered him. He had seen it in the his eyes, the longing, the desire, the want. But Ace had been defensive and it had been difficult to get through his walls. It had been Ace's idea to go to a bar which had surprised Marco. But afterwards when he'd laid in his own bed back on the Moby Dick he had realized that the alcohol had been Ace's defense, his wall beyond the wall. An excuse, the reason why it happened in the first place. The third time they met had only confirmed Marco's suspicions.

Ace was difficult, that was true. But once you got beneath all the walls and all of the defenses, he wasn't all that complicated. 

“Kidnap him.”

He blinked, staring at Thatch for a brief moment as if he wasn't sure he'd just heard what he'd heard. “Yoi?”

“Yes, kidnap him!” Haruta exclaimed. The others nodded in agreement. 

“You all suck at romance,” Marco muttered in frustration. “I'm never asking you for relationship advice ever again, yoi.”

Not that he had asked them in the first place. They had pretty much forced themselves into the conversation and pushed their advice onto him, because as Thatch had put it once, Marco was too oblivious and too stubborn to see shit. He had thrown the chef overboard for that comment, successfully ruining the man's pompadour which had caused the man to pout like a child the rest of the day.

“Why?” Haruta asked with a furrowed brow. “Our advice is great.”

“I can't just kidnap him, yoi!”

“Why not? You're a pirate?”

“Don't tell me you care about the laws now?” Rakuyo asked, poking at the miniature mountain of mashed potatoes on his plate.

“It's not the laws, it's Ace. I don't want to force him to come with me if he doesn't want to, yoi,” he groaned, running a hand through his hair before scratching the back of his head.

A long stretch of silence surrounded the table, which to be fair wasn't very quiet since they were in the galley. But no one at the table spoke, just staring at Marco with big eyes that made even he feel uncomfortable. 

“What?”

Then Whitebeard let out a loud laugh that filled the galley and boomed over the other voices. “Now I need to meet this brat.”

“Aw, Marco's in love~” Thatch singsonged, clasping his hands together and pouting his lips in a kissy motion. 

“Don't deny it! We can see it on your face!” Rakuyo chuckled, pointing at him with his fork.

“Must be weird, falling in love at your age,” Thatch said, grinning.

“I'm three years older than you, yoi!”

“See, you're old.”

“Go jump in the ocean, Thatch,” he retorted. 

“Marco, you should bring him onboard,” Whitebeard said whilst nodding. A sense of pride shone from the man.

“I told you, yoi, he doesn't want to. You're probably scaring him off.”

“Nonsense, I need to meet this boy,” Whitebeard argued, clearly not taking no for an answer. “If he's going to be dating my son, I need to meet him.”

“We're not dating,” Marco sighed, feeling his will to argue dissipate. It would do no good anyway, they wouldn't let this go any time soon.

“Bullshit,” Thatch said. “You're going goo goo over this kid and you said it yourself, you've already gotten it on plenty of times.”

“Having sex does not equal a relationship!” Marco groaned, standing up. “I have the reports from yesterday's battle to go through, yoi.”

With that he left the galley, ignoring the protest behind him.

 

* * *

 

 

Marco groaned, running a hand down his face. He put the feather pen down and pushed the current report away. He kept getting distracted by the thought of Ace and having let him leave. The regret over not having thrown him over his shoulder and just flying him to the Moby Dick pressed at the forefront of his mind. There would've been teasing - there already was -, but fuck. He wanted Ace by his side. If the only way was to deal with Thatch's teasing and Izou’s meddling, he would find a way to deal with it. 

His fingers itched, imagining that tanned flesh in his hands. Running his hands over Ace's muscles and making the boy writhe and moan and scream and beg. Just the thought itself was almost too much knowing how close he had been and how stupid he was to have let the chance slip away.

“Yoi,” he said to himself with a nod. He had decided.

He grabbed a shirt, throwing it over his head in a hurry. He made his way outside, giving quick nods to the crewmembers he passed. Once out on deck he took off, the darkening sky contrasting against his blue flames. He hoped that the marine ship would still be anchored at the island, it would make it easier for him to find Ace.

It didn’t take him long to locate the island and finding the town where they had run into Akainu. He cooed in joy as he saw the marine ship still docked at the port. 

He flew over the island, glad for the clouds covering the darkening sky. It helped hide him from sight. Being stealthy when you were a blue flaming bird wasn't the easiest.

He landed on the outskirts of the town with ease. It would be easier to avoid being found out and lessen the risk of being seen by the marines by walking to the port from here instead of landing at the port itself.

The marine ship was anchored to the sidewalk by ropes tied to large iron rings in the pavement. From what he could see the deck was empty, but he figured that there would be at least one or two guards on watch duty. He could just sneak aboard, but with the risk of Akainu still being on the ship it wasn't the smartest idea. Especially without a disguise.

Finding the marines weren't very difficult. Despite what people might think, pirates and marines have a very similar thought process when landing on an island after weeks at sea. Tavern or brothel. Sometimes even both. Most men would be starved for the touch of a woman or another man or for the relaxation that came with getting wasted for the first time in weeks. So it didn't surprise Marco in the slightest when he found a bunch of them at one of the local taverns. All he had to do was be patient and wait for one of them to come outside.

He didn't have to wait very long. 

He smirked as one of them walked out on unstable legs, clearly drunk. The man laughed, waving a bottle in the air and slurred something to his pals in the bar and made a thrusting motion with his hips before laughing louder. 

“Pst, over here,” Marco said in a hushed whisper, loud enough that the man would hear him but low enough to not draw any unwanted attention.

“Huh? Who's t’re?” the marine asked, stumbling over both his feet and his words.

“Just come over here.”

The man shrugged and walked further into the alley Marco was leading him into. He looked around the dark before stopping in the middle, scratching his neck.

“Hey, wait a min-”

With a swift kick from behind, the marine fell to the pavement with a thud, a small cloud of dust forming around the unconscious body. Marco stripped the man of his shirt and hat, putting both on and pulling the hat as far down as he could. It felt off and he didn't like it but knew that his face was way too recognizable without it. 

He discarded his own shirt by one of the dumpsters. It was an old one with ink stains, so it was nothing he would miss.

“Now then,” he said, walking out of the alley and turned towards the port. Time to make up for missed opportunities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, no sex, but we're getting there. I promise.
> 
> I told you this story was getting way out of hand. Originally it was supposed to be like 5000- something words. So far (and the last chapters aren't finished yet) it's over 11000 words.
> 
> Why do these two always escalate the stories I write about them?!


	3. Next time we're locking the door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this being so late, but I completely lost my muse and it refused to come back. I tried to keep this in the same atmosphere as the previous chapters, but not sure how well I did. Might come back to revise it later if I ever get into the mood.
> 
> But, for those of you who's been waiting for the sweet, sweet smut. Here you go!

Fuyumi yawned as she made her way back to the ship. Ace had stormed off all huffy hours ago and she was a bit disappointed she wasn't able to tease him more. He always got so flustered or angry when it happened that she couldn't help herself.

She passed another much taller marine as she boarded the ship, giving him a quick hello before frowning. She stopped and leaned her head to the side.

“Uhm, hey,” she said, gaining the Marines attention. “I don't recognize you.”

Fuyumi was not be the best hand to hand combatant or someone that stood out from a crowd appearance wise besides her outgoing personality. She was nothing remarkable, really. However, there was one thing she did pride herself in. Her ability to recognize a face. As a marine with little physical skill one of the few things she did have going for her, besides a somewhat decent aim with a gun, was her memory. She was very proud of her ability to describe a face after only seeing it for a short period of time. She felt confident in at least knowing when she'd seen a fellow marine before. 

This man was completely foreign to her.

“I'm new, yoi,” the marine said.

“We haven't gotten any new recruits in months,” she said. Not since Ace and a small ragtag group of trainee’s who weren’t meant to stay for more than a few months had been brought onboard.

“Not new on this crew. I was sent by Vice-Admiral Garp for lieutenant Ace, yoi. Something about a birthday-something the Vice-Admiral wanted him to know,” the marine said, scratching his neck. He looked a bit out of place as he looked around the deck.

“How did you get here?” Fuyumi asked. She didn't see any small marine vessels in the port and they hadn't gotten any notice about a visit from HQ. 

“Devil fruit. Makes it easy to travel alone,” the marine said with a quick shrug. “You wouldn't mind telling me where Ace is?”

“Uh—No, of course not,” Fuyumi said, pointing towards the doors leading inside. She was a bit weary of the man, but who was she to not trust a fellow marine. “He should be in his room, two decks down and third door from the staircase on the left. You can't miss it. It's the one with scorch marks on it.”

She saw a twitch in the corner of the others face and saw him raised an eyebrow, at least she thought she did. The guy had his cap pulled far down over his face.

“Thank you,” the marine said with a quick bow before heading towards the doors.

“You're welcome,” she hurried to say before he was out of ear shot just for the sake of being polite. 

She wondered what Vice-Admiral Garp wanted to tell Ace about his birthday. Or maybe it wasn't about the Vice-Admirals birthday but Ace's birthday! 

She gasped and clasped her hand together with a loud smack. A wide grin stretched on her face. 

She needed to do some research. 

* * *

 

 

Finding the door wasn't very hard. As the female marine had said, it was covered in black soot and scorch marks left behind by what he guessed was Ace's fire. Especially around the doorknob, the poor thing even seemed to have small indentations in it. Probably after he came back to his room in a bad temper.

He didn't bother knocking. He could sense that Ace was inside.

Ace was lying flat on his bed with his face in the pillow as if he was trying to drown out the rest of the world. He groaned loudly when Marco entered; Too loud to not be a warning. 

“Don't you know how to knock?” his muffled voice asked.

“This is nice,” Marco answered instead as he closed the door behind him.

The room really was nice, if a bit smaller than what he'd expected. For someone of Ace's rank, Marco had assumed that he'd have a bigger cabin. Heck, the shower in the commander's corridor onboard the Moby Dick was bigger than this and some of the commanders didn't even have a room in the corridor for various reasons.

The walls were a faint blue with white wood and just like the door, the wall's were covered in scorch and blast marks. From the difference in size Marco could guess how close to the wall Ace must have been while making most of the marks. It was actually quite impressive. 

“What the—! Marco?!” Ace pretty much flew up, mouth hanging open as he watched Marco throw the cap on the floor. It had been annoying anyway. “What are you doing—”

“Ssh! Do you want the entire ship to know I'm here, yoi?” he asked, holding a finger up over his mouth. 

He didn't want to have to give any more excuses as to why he was there. The more people knew of his presence onboard the more people would be left to question the truth about why he was there. It would only be a matter of time before the wrong people would hear of his reasons for being here and know that Garp hadn't sent him because of some birthday excuse. He didn't even know for sure if Ace's birthday was coming up. That was just a poorly educated guess he'd made from a conversation months ago. He could be completely off the mark. 

“Fuck, why are you here?” Ace asked, looking towards the door.

“I missed you, yoi. I'm almost regretting not taking you up on your offer, yoi.”

“What offer?” Ace frowned, getting off of the bed. Despite his worry Marco could hear the happiness in his voice and it made him smirk knowing that Ace missed him just as much as he'd missed the marine. 

“Hoh? And here I thought I'd finally figured out another one of your many kinks,” Marco sighed, feigning disappointment. 

“What—?! Will you stop that! I'm not into exhibit—whatever you called it.”

“When it stops being funny,” he laughed, loving the faint blush dusting Ace's tanned cheeks. “And how do you know you're not into it if you don't know what it is?”

“It's when you have sex around people. Right?” Ace asked, voice stumbling a bit. His cheeks turned a darker red. 

It was adorable how despite all they'd done together, Ace was still a bit uncomfortable about talking so openly about sex, even if it was with Marco. While he had gotten more bold since that first night they’d spent together and no longer seemed completely lost at what to do when seeing Marco's dick, he didn't seem as confident talking about the subject as he was performing it.

He once again glanced to the door as if he was expecting it to fly open at any second. Marco followed his eyes and could sense that no one was even close to the corridor they were in. There were a few people below and the occasional marine walking up on deck—probably the night watch—, but other than that they were completely alone. For now, at least. He knew that the chance of someone just happening to walk by was high. Though that didn't deter him.

“You need to leave, if Bakasuki finds you, he's going to kill you.”

“And isn't that the thrill? How many doors down is he sleeping?”

Marco could sense that the admiral was close, but not so close that he was worried about him noticing his presence and recognizing it. They hadn’t interacted enough for Marco’s presence to raise any alarms yet.

“He's a floor up, but it's still way too fucking close. If he hears anything he'll come down here!” Ace hissed.

“You expect me to believe that he won't just assume you're masturbating really loudly?”

“Moaning a pirates fucking name?” Ace exclaimed. He looked stressed, shoulders tight and constantly on guard. Marco decided that he was going to change that. “Stop smiling! If you had the choice you'd have me shout it all the way to the fucking holy land.”

“If I had the choice, I'd have the world know who you belong to, yoi.” Marco smirked, pulling Ace close. He licked his lips seductively. 

Ace audibly gulped, eyes staring directly at Marco’s lips without even trying to hide it.

“You don't own me, Marco,” he whispered. It didn’t sound very confident, though. He sounded more like someone who was trying to deny a fact. 

He moved his hand down Ace’s back, moving his hand like a spider over his muscles. He dipped close to his pants teasingly but moved back up. Ace inhaled sharply and then whined.

“I never said that, yoi. I said belong, not owned, yoi,” Marco explained. 

Own was such a taboo word in society today. It was too closely tied to the slave trade to be thrown around loosely. 

“Unless you want me to. I could steal you away right now like the treasure you are, yoi.”

“Why would I let you do that?” Ace asked, finally pushing him away. There wasn’t much strength behind the push however, and Marco figured it was only to get his wandering hand off of his back. If Ace wanted actual distance between them, he would've pushed him into the wall long ago.

“Because you haven't sounded the alarm yet.”

“I don't need a ship to take you down.”

“And yet your record so far is zero to five.”

Marco easily caught the fist aimed at his jaw; Though, he would hardly call it a punch. There was no real strength behind it and for someone with Ace’s fire ability to throw a punch without using his flames, it probably wasn't even meant as a real punch.

“I was going easy on you,” Ace smirked.

Marco chuckled, pulling on the fist so that Ace was flush against his chest again. “I'm not in the mood for fighting, yoi.”

He thrust his hips against Ace's, hearing the young man gasp at the quick moment of friction.

“How are you already aroused?” Ace asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

“The thought of you is enough. I've also had a lack of firecracker these last few months so I'm all pent up, yoi,” Marco said, smirking and tongue sticking out at the corner.

Ace swallowed while sending quick glances towards the door again. He fidgeted, hands going from fists to palm down and back to fists on Marco's chest. Marco could almost taste the anxiety coming from the young man.

“Hey, focus on me,” Marco said, placing a hand on his chin and guided his eyes away from the door. “No one's coming, trust me. I'll know if they do, yoi.”

Ace frowned and looked a bit unsure. “Haki?”

“Yes, haki.”

“Are you sure you’ll know if someone comes?”

“Yes!” Marco promised, holding onto both of Ace’s cheeks. “I promise I will hide the moment someone comes our way, okay, yoi?”

Ace bit his lip and glanced towards the door again. He thought about it for a few seconds before he let out a long sigh.

“Alright.”

With that, he threw his arms around Marco’s neck and pulled the man down for a ferocious kiss that was both hungry and passionate. It was sloppy and a bit off balanced as Ace stumbled to reach Marco’s lips while the man was caught by surprise, even if the pirate caught himself quickly.

Both of Marco’s hands went down to his hips, holding them tightly as he slowly pushed Ace backwards towards the bed. They fell in a heap onto the sheets, neither caring a bit about how they ended up tangled against each other. Both were too busy locking lips and making up for months worth of pent up sexual frustration.

“That didn’t take long,” Marco chuckled against Ace’s lips while he snaked his hands down the younger man’s pants.

“Shut up!” Ace huffed, blushing red and body temperature rising.

With an amused snort, Marco wrapped his hand around Ace’s dick and didn’t waste any time pulling it out of his pants. He began pumping the organ without hesitation, loving how Ace let out a loud curse and moaned his name despite his previous worries about being too loud.

“Shit, Marco—!” he gasped, looking up at the blonde with hooded eyes.

Marco licked his lips and smirked almost like a predator. It made Ace shiver as Marco continued to pump his cock, slowly speeding up and tightening his grip.

His moans grew louder and louder as his balls started to contract. The pit of his stomach ached and the pleasure built up into a tight bundle that just waited to release.

He let out a sharp gasp when Marco latched onto his neck, nibbling and sucking his way up towards Ace's airlobe. He pulled on the flesh and sucked before biting on the spot just beneath. Ace tensed up, gripping Marco's neck and completely forgetting to silence his moans as he neared climax. 

Then Marco stopped. 

“What?” Ace breathed. “Why did you stop?”

Marco glanced towards the door and it was then that Ace heard them. The footsteps, thundering down the hallway. Closer and closer to the room.

Before Ace knew it Marco had thrown the blanket over Ace and flown off of him. He just about managed to close the closet door before the door slammed open revealing a disheveled Akainu. His hair was ruffled and he had bags under his eyes, a clear sign he had most likely just been woken up.

“Portgas! What in the name of Mary Geoise are you doing down here?!” he barked, eyes glaring daggers at him.

“Uhm…” Ace stammered, too confused and shocked to process what just had happened and where the fuck Marco had gone off to so fast. 

“Baka—I mean, Admiral Akainu! I was—Uhm, it's not—”

The few seconds of silence where Akainu scanned the room, clearly seeing the bulge under the blanket and the mess that was Ace’s bed, seemed to last forever. All the while Akainu’s face remained neutral—or as neutral as Akainu’s regular scowl could be—and Ace was internally freaking out because he had no idea where Marco had gotten off to.

“Keep quiet, you sound like a pig about to be butchered,” the Vice-Admiral snarled before slamming the door shut behind him. Ace's heart hammered away in his chest as he heard the footsteps get further and further away.

Then the wardrobe door opened and Marco almost fell out, holding his stomach. He was laughing, head thrown back as if someone had just told him a good joke.

“Shut up! Do you have any idea of what he would do to you if he’d caught you in here?” Ace growled in an almost hushed shout. 

“Probably have a good long stare, for starters,” Marco chuckled, whipping a nonexistent tear from his eye. 

“This isn't a joke, Marco, he could have killed you.”

“Then you just have to be more quiet, mister pig.”

“It's not that fucking easy when you're doing your best to get me to fucking scream!”

“I could always gag you or shove my fingers in your mouth to keep you quiet, yoi.”

“This is serious. I could lose my job and you could get executed,” Ace growled, glaring at Marco who was still fucking smiling like this whole situation was a joke.

“When did you get so up tight?” Marco asked, picking up the cap he’d thrown on the floor. He dusted it off and put it on the nightstand. It wouldn’t do to lose it if he wanted to get out of here without a fight.

“This is getting dangerous,” Ace said, voice getting low.

“It's always been dangerous. It's never not for people like us,” Marco said with a shrug. “Everyday could be the last.”

“It's too risky.”

“Because we're on a marine ship or because you're willing to bend the rules for me, yoi?”

“I'm trying to keep you alive!”

“I never asked you to, but I appreciate the concern, yoi,” Marco chuckled, sitting down onto the bed. He ran a hand down Ace’s shoulder only to have the hand shaken off.

Ace glared at him, leaning away. “Is this a joke to you?”

“What's really bothering you, Ace?” 

Marco raised an eyebrow as he looked the younger marine over. His entire attitude had changed from compliant to distant, as if he was trying to put an invisible wall between them all of a sudden.

Whatever it was that had changed when Akainu had barged in, Marco had missed it. There was something Ace wasn’t telling him.

“It definitely isn't the fact that we almost got walked in on, it most certainly isn't because we're on a marine ship, otherwise you wouldn't have let me get started in the first place, yoi.”

With each word he spoke, Ace’s shoulder tensed and rose up towards his ears. His expression got hard and almost afraid before he turned to look away from Marco completely. It was almost as if he was trying to keep Marco at an arm’s distance.

That’s when it clicked.

Marco leaned closer, taking hold of Ace’s chin and forcing him to look at him. He looked the man over with soft eyes and then asked with a frown, “Ace, is this getting too personal for you?”

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to thank Dragontooth117 for giving me the fantastic idea of placing these two on a battlefield between pirates and marines. Had to happen sometime, right? It also started off the sequal great.
> 
> Of course, there is no actual sex in this chapter. Don't worry, I won't leave you horny beasts starved. I have some tasty smut waiting at the end, it's just that this one got so long in the regards to words that I can't post it in one go.
> 
> Also, while the entire story isn't done just yet, I have it half done and it will be out next year, just be patient. Just thought I'd post this for New Years, as my gift to all you lovelies for encouraging me to go on with this AU.


End file.
